Malaysia open to possible investments in BARMM: Mahathir

March 7, 2019

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday his country willing  to help Mindanao following the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). 

In an interview over ANC, Mahathir said they are open for possible investments as the region transitions into the newly-formed BARMM.

"We must be helpful. We are close by, we are neighbors. Whatever happens in southern Philippines affects Malaysia. We want southern Philippines to be stable, peaceful, and we can then find opportunities here as much as we can help in contributing towards development through maybe foreign direct investments," Mahathir said. 

The Malaysian prime minister said a country's growth, which affects economic status, can possibly control violence. 

"A country that is unstable will never grow, never develop. We welcome peace whenever it happens. When the economy is doing well, the tendency to go towards violence will be much reduced," he said. 

"Peace will always bring opportunities," Mahathir added. 

He advised the nation to look at "models" to have an idea on how the country can improve Mindanao. 

"We need to look into models. In case of Malaysia, we decided to look east because there are many countries including Japan and Korea which are doing well," explained Mahathir.

  "The southern Philippines is a special area where because of the violence, it was not able to develop. Look at other areas where the situation is quite similar and adopt this way of developing their country that has succeeded in other countries." he added. 

The 93-year-old leader said he and President Rodrigo Duterte will not discuss the issue on the Philippines' claim to Sabah. He said "there is no claim" of on the  territory. 

Mahathir discussed the spread of extremism not only in the Philippines but  in other countries. He argues that extremism can be prevented if people would acknowledge its causes and do something about it.

"Extremism will spread, unfortunately. I see things getting worse. The reason is very simple: we refuse to acknowledge the causes. This terrorism is caused by something. Try and deal with the causes and there will be less extremism. But ignoring the cause and trying to fight against extremism as if it is a conventional war, you're not going to succeed,'' he said. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS